Of course follow the science and data. But all health and medical experts do not agree on every step society should take and some advice and data have been terribly wrong. Furthermore, so many of these experts were not prepared for a pandemic. Perhaps you never can be. But you can be better prepared. Therefore, elected officials have to make, hopefully, rational and prudential decisions based on all the scientific data and more — that is, which data advice to take where there are conflicts, the effects on the greater civil society of a particular decision, and that includes civil liberties, and basic human sustenance, etc., which involves economic policy. Therefore, to say “follow the science” is clearly critical but can also be quite elusive. To say “lives over jobs” is useless and misleading chant. The human toll from a collapsing economy wouldn’t exclude health services, and can destroy institutions and norms that make health care for the broader population virtually impossible. So, let’s leave the simplicity to the simpletons.
